Insight is a Body Feeling

What is it about?

This article argues that when we understand something, we experience the understanding itself as a feeling we have in our bodies. I make this point by drawing connections between the philosophies of Bernard Lonergan, Maurice Blondel, and Eugene Gendlin.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Understanding is often talked about as though it happened in some ethereal realm called "consciousness". This article suggests that our consciousness of understanding can be located in our awareness of our bodies, and so philosophical efforts to understand understanding have empirical data to investigate. The article also suggests that past interpretations of Bernard Lonergan's philosophy of understanding that would lump him in with Kantian philosophers and theologians are mistaken.